Works - Choral and Vocal

Trinity Sunday

SATB Chamber Choir
4 mins. (pub. Ricordi)

First Performance:
Norwich Cathedral
Royal Academy of Music Chamber Choir cond. Christopher Robinson
6th July 2002

Wedding Breakfast

For Soprano/mezzo solo with tambourine
4 mins. (pub. Ricordi)

First Performance:
Amanda Dean, British Music Information Centre
4th March 1993

Programme Notes

Michael and All Angels

For Chamber Choir, Horn and Organ
Commissioned by St. Marylebone Church
7 mins.(pub. Ricordi)

First Performance:
Choir of St. Marylebone Church cond. Peter Barley
1st October 1995

"The transformation of one theme into a triumphant hymn of praise is thrilling…"
Edward Wickham, Church Times, Oct. 1995

Programme Notes

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La Cloche Felee

Soprano and Piano
5 mins. (pub. Edition Peters)

First Performance:
Alison Smart and Katherine Durran,
Purcell Room, London
13th July 2004

CD Recording - Alison Smart and Katherine Durran, METIER MSV CD92100

"Most impressive of all, in innovative terms, was Adam Gorb's 'La Cloche Felee', setting a poignant poem by Charles Baudelaire, where the cracked church bell was denoted by the pianist cleverly 'stopping' the bass strings of the piano to produce a dead rasping sound, 'like the heavy death rattle of a wounded man.' "
Jill Barlow, Tempo January 2005

"The most powerful song of the evening was Adam Gorb's setting of Charles Baudelaire's 'La Cloche Felee'; this terrifyingly intense, chilling poem was musically portrayed by the particularly effective writing in the piano, employing opposite extremes of pitch and with bass tones stopped inside the instrument to conjure up the death rattle of the bells."
Manus Carey, Musical Opinion September/October 2004

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Magnification x

Soprano, Sopranino Recorder,
Cello and Harpsichord
4 mins. (Music available from the composer)

First Performance:
Barbirolli Room,
Bridgewater Hall Manchester
16th October 2004

"The composer noted that he hoped the exoticism of the text was reflected in the scoring, the most exotic he has composed for to date - he need not have had any anxiety as the music vividly captured the depiction of microscopic nature evoked in Sarah Day's poem."
Andrew Mayes, BMS News March 2005

Thoughts Scribbled on a Blank Wall

Bass solo. SATB Choir, Brass Quintet, Organ
Words by Ben Kaye and John McCarthy

Commissioned by the John Armitage Memorial Trust
23 mins. (pub. Edition Peters)

First Performance:
St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London
Giles Underwood, Selwyn College Choir, ONYX Brass conducted by Nicholas Cleobury
22nd March 2007

"It was a truly extraordinary evening for me at St Bride's. I was completely bowled over by Thoughts Scribbled on a Blank Wall. I had never ever imagined I'd have my words included in a musical setting such as that - and such a powerful one. Thank you so much."
John McCarthy

Programme Notes

Listen:
Sample 1

Sample 2